In the telecommunications industry, telephone cable is introduced to individual telephone sites such as residences mainly through use of splice of the signal wires of the cable to respective house wires at a junction located outside or inside the house. Ends of the house cable and the drop cable from the transmission line enter an enclosure; each of a pair of signal wires of each cable is prepared to be spliced to its respective counterpart in the other cable; and the prepared wire ends are then placed within the terminal which is manipulated to penetrate the insulation of both wires to engage the conductors and thus interconnect them. Terminal blocks also provide dielectric protective structure around the splice and together with the enclosure provide protection from the environment especially from water, dust and other contaminants and also from insects and animals.
One type of terminal block for interconnecting a pair of wires is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,077. A tubular dielectric housing has a center post therein defining an annular cavity. A stationary tubular terminal and a rotatable tubular terminal are disposed within the cavity in electrical engagement with each other. A tubular actuator is also mounted in the housing and is adapted to be rotated between actuated and unactuated positions to rotate the rotatable terminal. A pair of wire receiving apertures extend through the annular cavity and both of the tubular terminals. Upon rotation of the rotatable terminal by the actuator, slot walls of the terminal pierce the wire insulation and engage conductor within the wires. The stationary terminal includes a contact section extending outwardly from the housing including insulation displacement slots for a wire to be inserted thereinto and terminated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,302 discloses a terminal block module which includes two terminal blocks. The terminal blocks are defined by a tubular housing section having an annular cavity and a tubular one piece terminal secured within the annular cavity. Each terminal block includes a pair of wire receiving apertures into which wire ends are inserted to extend through insulation piercing slots of the terminal and upon rotation, the slots pierce the insulation of the wire and engage the conductor of each wire thus interconnecting them.
What is needed is a terminal block enabling simplified and assured wire termination and untermination to cross connect the two wires. It is further needed to provide for overvoltage surge protection in the terminal box. It is also needed to provide a higher density terminal block.